


Drag Me Down

by msxylda



Series: Barnes's Beginnings [7]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-05
Updated: 2016-10-05
Packaged: 2018-08-19 18:22:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8220511
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msxylda/pseuds/msxylda
Summary: Thor has been trying to figure out a way to woo The Winter Soldier.He sort of manages it.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tracinginthesand](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tracinginthesand/gifts).



> I've never written Thor's POV before. If it sucks, blame ... uh... LOOK A SQUIRREL.
> 
> I want you to know that while plotting out the AU where this fits, I made something of a mess. I opened the hood of the MCU and took out Vision because I wanted JARVIS. I threw in Bucky joining The Avengers after the events on the Hellicarrier. I threw out the mommy drama and the Pepper dumping Tony and the…
> 
> Well you get the idea.
> 
> Changes were made.
> 
> One thing I did not change was how epic Thor is, and how often he’s overlooked or written off as a big, dumb, blond punchline. I hope you enjoy.

A prince had to be careful when courting a fellow warrior. Especially one who’d suffered great physical and emotional trauma. Especially one who was from another culture. Especially one who may not be interested in other warriors. Or men. Or anyone at all. 

And especially one you wagered might still be interested in his lifelong best friend.

Basically, Thor had to tread lightly or risk the harmony of the entire Avengers Initiative. That was okay though, making careful steps was something he was steadily growing adept at, with the help of his slowly reforming brother, Loki.

Or, if not reforming, at least refraining from causing actual chaos across the nine realms any longer.

He’d even apologized to Clint, Erik, and all the others for the brain washing incident. And it was quite amusing to watch Lady Barton shoot him with an arrow.

She had exceptional form with a bow, actually, and not for the first time Thor wondered why she wasn’t on the team. Something he often did while stalling in his own mind so he wouldn’t have to face the problem at hand. Plotting careful steps to woo a wounded Midgardian soldier he shared a team bond with. 

Hopefully with better results than he’d had with the Lady Jane. Not that he could blame her for eventually rejecting his suit in favor of another. Who was he to stand in the way of her happiness? No. She was better with the good Doctor Banner and their Black Widow. The three of them balanced each other with their quick wit and smoothed out the other’s sharp edges. They fit together in a way he and Jane never had.

A way he hoped to with The Winter Soldier.

After the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. Thor had spent time … not getting to know him, not exactly, but observing him. During these observations, he’d found a man that was quiet and reserved most of the time who showed hints of a backbone of steal and a strong heart. He would have had to have both to survive his tenure with HYDRA. His skills were obvious and without parallel as well. Beyond fighting and marksmanship, he had a keen tactical mind.

His physical form was not lacking, either, obviously.

Over time, he’d come to realize that he had developed a tender for the man. And once he’d come to terms with that fairly obvious eventuality, all he had to do was tell him. Tell him in such a way that did not end with a face full of metal fist. Not that it would permanently damage anything.

Save his pride.

It was as he was considering the best way to begin- meaning he was stalling, again- that the perfect opportunity fell into his lap. 

Movie night.

At Stark Tower.

Always something of a spectacle, this night promised to be something special from the moment Thor arrived on the common floor. Sam and Steve were arguing over movie options. Apparently it was Steve’s turn to choose and he wanted to watch something that had been filmed back before he was frozen. This prompted an enthusiastic no- with lots of inventive cursing the Allspeak did not translate- from Sam. 

Sam seemed to feel that this was, once again, an attempt to coddle The Winter Soldier. Something Sam insisted would not help the other man’s recovery. Or Steve’s codependency. Given that Steve’s relationship with Agent Carter, Agent Hill, Darcy Lewis, and three different Stark Industry interns had faltered because of this co-dependency, Thor tended to agree.

And that was not jealously speaking…

That was entirely the jealousy speaking.

Still, it didn’t seem as if Steve was interested in The Winter Soldier as anything other than a brother, so Thor tried to…

Resist punching the good Captain in his perfectly chiseled jaw.

While he was not wrapped up in visions of violence, another had wandered into the common room, stopping short just as he had and murmuring “oh god, not again,” causing Thor to startle, slightly. An obvious jump, given the way his brother was smirking in his general direction. He frowned and turned to the practically silent monster of a man next to him.

How such a worthy warrior could move so quietly was beyond him.

Though he was willing to spend a great deal of time studying the phenomenon. Intimately, if need be.

Carefully considering the cadence the other man had used, Thor determined that he had most probably not spoken in English. It was difficult to tell while using the Allspeak, but English felt different than the language The Black Widow and the Winter Soldier used while speaking privately. 

Not for the first time he wondered what language The Winter Soldier heard him in when he spoke.

And if he should make an effort to learn that language in return…

But that was a thought for another time. One where there wasn’t an opportunity to give the other man something sitting right in front of him. Right there. Just begging for him to take it. Clearing his throat quietly and pitching his voice so only the other man could hear, he made his offer.

“If you would like, I could end this entire spectacle.”

The other man turned and looked at him in the calculating manner that seemed to be his default. “How?”

Thor smiled, wide and honest in return. “Does that mean you’re interested?”

The darker man shrugged, and that small indifference should not have been enough to give Thor hope, and yet...

And yet…

“FRIEND STEVEN!” Thor boomed, causing everyone in the room- Winter Soldier or not- to jump. “WOULD YOU MIND TERRIBLY IF WE WATCHED A RECORDING I HAD REQUESTED THE INDOMITABLE SIR JARVIS RECORD FOR ME WHILST ON OUR MISSIONS?!”

“What are you doing?” The Winter Soldier hissed, “you don’t talk like that.”

Thor spun, throwing a wink at the other man while his back was to the room before sauntering up to the couch located squarely in the middle of the room. “VERILY, IT IS A GRAND MUSICAL THAT I BELIEVE WE MAY ALL ENJOY.”

Steve, along with the other Avengers, watched identical incredulous expressions. Their mouths hung open- less obvious in Clint and the Black Widow’s case- and they all blinked like owls. All except for Loki, who simply rolled his eyes and left the room. 

It was enough to make an Asgardian prince laugh, if it wouldn’t have given away his game.

“Um…” Steve began, unsure, and … faltered. “Uhm…” He said again, clearly with no idea what to do. A state that suited Thor’s purposes in this situation.

“JARVIS, MY MOST STUPENDOUS OF ELECTRONIC COMPANIONS, CAN YOU START THE PROGRAM I HAD REQUESTED FOR JUST SUCH AN OCCASION?!” It had taken Thor time to come to terms with the AI… well, that was slightly inaccurate, it had taken time for the AI to realize how he enjoyed teasing Tony Stark. Once Jarvis finally picked up on his “trolling”- as the AI called it- he deemed it a worthy endeavor and set about trying to help as much as possible.

That included starting up a prerecorded concert of an all-male singing group popular- nearly exclusively- with young teenage women. A band he personally knew sent Tony running from the room as fast as his feet would carry him before Pepper started extolling the virtues of their long and unruly hair.

Thor could see the appeal… After all, long hair that armed unwashed and unbrushed was slowly becoming a style that appealed to him, thanks to The Winter Soldier.

With the screen now occupied by teenage girls in various stages of hysteria, the other Avengers slowly scattered. Slowly being a relative term, since none of them formed actual dust clouds. Within minutes, Thor and The Winter Soldier were the only two left in the room.

The other man approached the couch warily, eying Thor as if seeing him for the first time. “Well done,” he offered before sitting himself down on the same couch and allowing the heels of his combat boots to thunk down against the coffee table. He was too far away for Thor’s liking, but still, it was progress.

“This what we’re actually watching?” He asked as settled into the cushions, the hints of a smile playing around the corners of his mouth. Thor himself got up, under the guise of retrieving pizza and beer, but really so that when he came back he could settle slightly closer.

Plus, pizza and beer.

“It was just a ruse to get the others to leave,” Thor offered up as he removed the cap from his beer and instantly wanted the words back. What if they gave too much—

A shrill whistle broke his concentration and he looked to the other man. “Nice,” he gestured to the beer bottle in Thor’s hands, which was when Thor realized that these were the variety that were not supposed to twist off. Not that that had ever stopped him from doing so before…

When he looked up at The Winter Soldier there was an actual smile on the other man’s face. Small, but real. While he maintained eye contact, he used his metal hand to twist off his own bottle cap.

Thor cleared his throat as he silently agreed. It was a rather impressive sight.

“We can watch it, if you want. One Direction actually isn’t bad.” Thor nodded as he took a long drag of beer, waiting to make sure that The Winter Soldier was serious before he offered up information such as favorite songs. “Plus they’re hot as fuck.”

He spit beer out and watched in horror as it sprayed The Winter Soldier right in the face. Wide eyed with horror, he tried to grab anything to clean off the other man, but the first thing he laid hands on was the back cushion of the couch. The one that had been attached before he ripped it off and flung it at the other man while babbling rapid apologies.

If he were very lucky, the bifrost would open right now and send him … anywhere.

Or the Allspeak would stop working.

Or Loki would prove he was still evil and jump out and stab him.

All viable options he considered in the thirty seconds it took The Winter Soldier to break out into laughter. Not the rusty laughter he sometimes let out when Sam, Tony, or Clint fell in training. Not the laughter he forced out for Steve. No, a real, honest to goodness belly laugh. Rich and full and…

Fuck.

As he dabbed at his eyes- with the corner of the cushion, which prompted him to chuckle more- he mumbled out something. The fabric muffled it, though, so Thor had to ask him to repeat himself.

Whatever he said, though, he must not have wanted to be heard since he sobered rather quickly. “Why do you call me The Winter Soldier? You’re the only one who does…”

“You have not given me leave to use your given name,” he replied as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world. But, of course, it wasn’t. Everyone seemed to use given names with no previous association, so after a long moment of watching The Winter Soldier blush and fumble for an appropriate answer Thor fessed up the rest of the truth. “Besides, I did not know which name you might prefer.”

That really changed the mood of the room, causing The Winterrrrr… other man, to stop and blink. Then dab more beer and tears from his face. “No one… “ he started, but he had to stop and clear his throat. “No one has ever asked me that before.”

Thor considered hunting down each of his teammates to give them a piece of his mind regarding titles and agency and—

“Um… James… I guess.” Then he tilted his head before nodding, once, and allowing a smile as bright as the rainbow bridge to grace his face. “Yeah, call me James.”

“Well, then, James,” and he had to pause as he savored the feel of the other man’s name on his tongue. It felt good there. He wondered what else of the man’s would… “I was thinking we could watch some professional wrestling.” That earned him a raised eyebrow, but Thor would not be deterred. “It’s like the soap operas Tony watches, but with more physical fighting.”

The Wint—James seemed to consider that for a moment. “Yeah, that’s—Wait, Tony watches soap operas?”

“Indeed Sir, but if you ever mention that to him I shall swear I have no idea how you found out,” Jarvis confirmed, causing Thor to smile and James to gape.

“You got JARVIS on your side?” He asked, as if that was the most incredible feat that had been accomplished that night.

Which, fair enough, but still--

“He wishes to ride you like a stallion.” Loki’s voice had, on occasion, caused negative reactions in Thor. Never before, though, had it been so immediate. Or felt more like a needle skipping across one of those records Steve seemed to prefer.

“Loki!” He shouted, wide eyed and incredulous.

His younger, darker, and soon to be deader brother rolled his eyes as he sauntered across the common room to fetch pizza and beer of his own. His prizes in hand, he turned to face Thor and James.

“You were moving slower than a glacier, dear brother. I should know. I am a frost giant, after all.” 

And with that, he vanished with only a trail of golden illusions in his wake.

Thor worked his mouth opened and closed a few times, not quite able to bring himself to speak. Or worse, to turn and face James and see the… whatever he would see on the younger man’s face. “I’m so sorry—“ he began, but cut off abruptly as his lap was suddenly full of Russian assassin.

And he did not mean The Black Widow.

He couldn’t quite believe his luck as he looked into James’s eyes, more alive than he’d ever seen them. Nor when the other man muttered “well why didn’t you say so?”

And when James closed the distance between them to press their lips together, he stopped thinking about luck at all. Or anything at all, really. Even though he was fairly certain he could hear a slow laugh, followed by “the amount of hair that will collect in your drain will be simply abominable…“


End file.
